CD Reviews

Milstein: A True Legend

Michael B. Richman | Portland, Maine USA | 01/19/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"EMI has produced so many new classical lines in the past couple of years that it's hard to keep track of them all, but one that has flown surprisingly under the radar is the "Legend" series. These sets feature one CD and one DVD by some of EMI's leading artists of the past fifty years. The title that initially intrigued me was David Oistrakh's because it featured his previously out-of-print recording of the Beethoven Violin Concerto with conductor Andre Cluytens. Then after going through the lineup of initial "Legend" offerings, I discovered a few others that I felt were worth getting, and the Nathan Milstein title was one of them.

The CD features the violinist's 1959 recording of the Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto and 1957 account of the Glazunov VC, both made with William Steinberg and the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra. These performances have both been previously available in the old "Full Dimension Sound" series (now OOP) and in the "Art of Nathan Milstein" collection. The other Tchaikovsky and Glazunov compsitions for violin and orchestra, with Robert Irving conducting, are also available on the "Art of NM" set, which I never owned so I was delighted to hear them here for the first time. All of these recordings are captured in brilliant golden age stereo and have to be counted among the best performances of the works ever made.

The DVD contains three selections from "Nathan Milstein" (EMI 4 90016 9 4/3) -- a 1968 performance of Bach's Chaconne from Partita No. 2, filmed at the ORTF in Paris; and a 1963 performance of the Prelude from Bach's Partita No. 3, and Novacek's Perpetuum Mobile with pianist Ernest Lush from 1957, both filmed in London. These are priceless historical documents, especially for those of us too young to have witnessed the great players of the past in person. In all, this is a first rate tribute to a true legend."